[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 149 (Thursday, September 14, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S5710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               TAX REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, comprehensive tax reform represents the 
single most important action we can take now to grow the economy and 
help middle-class families get ahead. It is the President's high 
priority. It is a priority we share here in Congress. The work of the 
tax-writing committees on tax reform goes back literally years, and it 
continues today.
  This morning, the Senate Finance Committee will hold another in a 
series of hearings on comprehensive tax reform. Under the leadership of 
Chairman Hatch, the committee is working to simplify the tax system to 
make it work better for American individuals, families, and businesses. 
As Chairman Hatch knows, our current Tax Code is overly complex, with 
rates that are too high and incentives that often literally make no 
sense.
  Senator Hatch understands how our broken code makes it harder for 
American businesses of all sizes to compete and win in an increasingly 
competitive global economy--how it actually incentivizes our companies 
to ship operations and American jobs overseas. Chairman Hatch and 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle understand how our broken code 
makes it harder for middle-class families to succeed--how it depresses 
wages, weighs down job creation, and crushes opportunity.
  It is time to fundamentally rethink our Tax Code to make taxes lower, 
simpler, and fairer for American families. Fortunately, we have a once-
in-a-generation opportunity to do that.
  This morning's hearing in the Senate Finance Committee is a part of 
the wide-ranging conversation to shift the economy into high gear after 
8 years of an Obama economy that too often hurt the middle class and 
seemed to hardly work for anyone but the ultrawealthy.
  With lower taxes and a growing economy, jobs can come back from 
overseas and stay here, families can keep more money in their pockets 
to spend in the way they want to, and individuals can have access to 
more opportunities to buy a new home, to start a new business, or to 
send their kids to college. To put it simply: Our efforts are about 
more jobs, more opportunity, and more money in the pockets of the 
middle class.
  Without tax reform, American families will be forced to continue 
living under an unfair Tax Code with rates that are too high, American 
jobs will continue to be shipped overseas, and small businesses will be 
increasingly uncompetitive against foreign companies. That does not 
benefit the middle class. These are the real consequences of the 
current Tax Code, and we should all want to work together to put an end 
to it. Our friends on the other side of the aisle say they support 
comprehensive reform of the system, and I hope they will join us in 
this effort in a serious way.
  Finally, I thank President Trump and his team for their work 
throughout this tax process. We will continue to regularly engage with 
them, working together to bring relief to the American people.
  I also thank Chairman Hatch for his leadership on this issue. Along 
with my colleagues, I will keep working to deliver relief and economic 
hope to our middle class.

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